Cera Smith

Dr. Cera Smith (they/she) serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies at the University of Oregon. Their research bridges U.S. Black literature, Critical Race Theory, and Health Humanities, with a focus on intersections between biology and racialized life in artistic and literary contexts.

Education:

• Ph.D. in African American Studies and English, Yale University
• M.Phil. in African American Studies and English, Yale University
• M.A. in African American Studies and English, Yale University
• B.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing (Minor: Psychology), California State University, Long Beach

Their current book project, Vivified Viscerality: Bioscience and the Black Interior in U.S. Black Literature and Sculpture, examines how Black artists use biological frameworks to articulate racialized experiences. Their work engages Critical Race Theory, Affect Theory, and Histories of Science and Medicine.

Recent publications highlight psychobiological impacts of racism in literature and intersections of physiology with Black identity. They previously taught courses on Black Life and the Body, Afro-Latinx literatures, and Trauma Writing.

Dr. Smith is affiliated with social justice organizations like the California Conference for Equality and Justice and the Yale Prison Education Initiative.